Chaz Moms and Moms-to-Be Chat (everyone welcome)

I'm going to be doing this with my girls (Mu already has a solid mat command, Tipper's needs less bark in it). I'm not really worried about them with a baby - they're both fantastic with babies they've been around. I'm more worried about the interactions between them around a baby. And unfortunately there's no way to train them out of that, short of what we're already doing.

Murphy is getting skipped over entirely because he's the golden child. Until the kid starts crawling I don't have to worry about him.

Jenv you look ADORABLE. I'm 15 weeks and some days I look chubby and some days I look knocked up. It's really weird. My stomach is super hard though - I keep poking it. Lol.

Random thought that just popped into my head and struck horrible fear in to my heart...
...this baby is eventually going to be a teenager.

Strider is only a few weeks older than Aurelia and they were raised together so he was no issue whatsoever. Kaia was fabulous with toddlers/small kids but had never been around an infant.

She did great though. She really really adores my son. Most of her training was centered around respecting the baby's space and toys since so many of them were squeaky, jingly, and smelled awesome. That and being super gentle.

It really helped that we had chinchillas from before, because initially she wanted to eat them soooo bad and had to learn major boundaries with them. Now they can run around and she'll leave them even though she wants them really bad. She's never been predatory with babies at all. But that experience really helped her learn self control around tiny delicate exciting creatures.

She loves babies. lol


So does Strider. He's way more protective of the kids. Kaia just frets if things don't seem right.

I had the world's most boring pregnancy..no nasty symptoms aside from a sciatic issue that left my legs numb from the knees up the entire time, alternating with burning (who knew burning AND numb at the same time was possible...) if I was on my feet too long. I work nearly 10 hour days of standing, so this was a daily issue

My doctor is pretty fabulous. He never pushed anything and he's an easygoing guy. I was really annoyed when I got stuck with another doctor for the birth. (my fault really, I got stuck with this doofus the last two visits due to scheduling issues and I hate speaking up. So my fault entirely and lesson learned).

I was induced, but by my choice. My husband had to be out of town for a week for work starting on my due date and all of our family is 1600 miles away so having anyone to transport from the hospital, etc would have been impossible. I also vetoed visitors for a few weeks after the birth, so family coming to stay on my due date was not something I wanted.

I had an epidural about 5 minutes before he was born, my choice, no one pushed it at all. And yes, it did work that quickly.

I probably won't have another, unless we magically become employed in other countries with a superior healthcare system. It's just too costly here. I had insurance, but it covered nothing due to a paperwork issue, and getting them to reopen anything to cover things has been futile thus far.

I didn't babywear when he was small. I had a front carrier that he disliked, so I wrote it off. I didn't try a wrap or other brands until he was much larger and I wish I'd tried them earlier. Not something I lose sleep over, but it would have made things easier and more pleasant.

I BF for 6 months. Then my supply just went away in spite of herbs, meds and pumping. He was getting frantic and screaming at every feeding as he just was not getting enough food. So at 6 months we went to formula. He did fine. If I DID have another, I'd bf again for as long as possible, but I'm not beating myself up over making the switch when it was necessary. One has to do what works.

As far as parenting advice, we're somewhat lucky in that we don't have family, etc nearby. So we were able to do what worked for us without judgement. The sole issue we had was my MIL making, apparently, some tsk tsk comments when we switched to formula (sorry, he had to eat) and, when visiting, telling me to feed him every single time he moved his head. Every turn of a baby's head is not "rooting" I finally got to where I'd just head off to the bedroom whenever she said he 'needed to eat' and, if he wasn't hungry, he'd hang out with me while I read a book

We didn't do parenting classes, etc, as I didn't feel they were necessary for me. I'm still ok with that Nothing came up that I didn't feel comfortable with.

In hindsight, I'd have cloth diapered more and stocked up on them throughout the pregnancy. We only had a few and had to wash a lot.

I was pretty laid back about pregnancy, etc. I still fed the dogs their raw treats, etc (using normal handwashing techniques) and I work at a job where I clean up animal poop, etc. I did wear gloves for that whenever possible, but otherwise I just washed up like normal. I lifted strange dogs as I normally did until I got to the point where the belly was in the way.

Do you think dogs know that children are our spawn and our "puppies", or do you think they see them as a different kind of human?

I think my two understand. When I first got pregnant, before I even knew I was pregnant, they both got suuuuuppper clingy and lovey. Strider is not a cuddly dog. He doesn't like to be on the furniture or beds, he likes his head rubbed and tolerates other petting, but he just doesn't want to cuddle. Usually he lays across the door mat and watches things.

When I first got pregnant he'd try to crawl into the tiny space between the back of my legs and the front of the couch. He'd try to ooze behind me between me and the cushion, lol. It was really weird. This started maybe a couple of weeks into it.

Then a few weeks later they really liked my belly. Pretty much the whole pregnancy Strider would walk up and lay his head on my belly like he was listening to the baby. He does this to other pregnant women if he gets a chance. One of my friends is super pregnant right now and the first thing he does after saying hi is put his ear against her belly and just lay his head there. lol

They were really happy when the baby came back home. I think they knew it was the same thing. They're pretty smart dogs, and could tell I didn't have a thingy in my stomach anymore and here was a new thingy and his heart rate and stuff probably sounded the same as what they were hearing the whole time. Strider definitely got overly protective of him at first, but then mellowed out.

The issue we had was due to our dog who had resource guarding issues, but couldn't stand to be apart from us... he'd just bark all day. We had to rehome him after he stole a toy from the kids (then 2) and snapped at them when they tried to get it back. I just wasn't going to take any risk with my kids, and we had moved to an apartment and it wasn't possible to separate them anymore (we almost never let the dogs with the kids before that, unless they were on our lap or something, but because they were 50 and 65lb and could have hurt them easily... they were 3 when the kids were born, so still a little bit crazy). But he did great with them as long as there wasn't anything he wanted to steal.

Our other dog is really great with the kids. We haven't had any issue. He's knocked them off a couple times but they just got right back up. Obviously you just have to make sure they're not totally traumatizing him but they're old enough to get it now at least. He doesn't listen to them yet, but they let him in and out etc (he doesn't let anyone in our extended families do it, so it's something). Main issue is that he thinks that toys are snacks, and he tends to steal their food if they're not careful.

In our case they were adopted so we didn't really have much time to prepare them though... but I guess we visited them every day and probably had their scents on us when we came back home, so it was sorta familiar.

Luna is the only one that has not been around babies. Daya has been when she is out training in Businesses while vested. She has learned that with any child who is samll she has to stay laying down among other things. The only issue we have had with Luna so far is she got really protective of my belly. Her favorite spot became laying next to me on the couch with her head on my belly. If Daya or Sheena came over she would lift her lip and growl. She would also do this when she was on the floor in front of me. So we stopped allowing her on the furniture or sitting directly in front of me. She has to sit off to the side. Within two weeks the behaviour was gone but we have stuck to not allowing her on the furniture or in front of me. Sheena and Daya can be but not Luna.

All of them love kids though. So I am not worried. And they are already toy box trained as well. So they know which toys are theirs to play with and which are not. And none of them are resource gaurders. In fact they all will share bones and Luna even will bring you her bone to inspect. She will sit in front of you with it till you take it. Then she puts a paw gently on your lap as you hold it. Then we say "Good Give of the Luna Bone." and give it right back. We have done this since we first got her. Our biggest issue will be keeping her energy level met and that is why we work on the treadmill with her. She is more high energy and her off switch is not as good as the other two. She also has a shorter attention span then the other two. Which is funny because Daya will hold her place or stay commands for as long as required even at 6 months. Luna is almost two and can't hold it as well. But I am not worried for any of them. It is just a matter of supervision, training, keeping their routine and needs met and all should be fine.

We rescued the dogs while I was pregnant with Hannah so I really had no idea what to expect (well actually we rescued belle and found out I was preggo two weeks later lol just as my mom predicted)

Luckily we didn't have a lot of unsolicited advice either. I've been around babies and young children my whole life so I didn't feel unprepared and didn't take any parenting classes. I felt that I knew what to expect.

Brian did do a daddy class before hannah was born where it was MEN ONLY and they had two New fathers come in and talk about their experiences and most of it was centered around how to support the wife during labor and in the weeks after coming home with a new baby. Then they had some male OBGYN's come in and talk about some stuff and what not. it was a nice experience for him and after hannah was born he volunteered to go in and be the "new dad" to talk to the expecting fathers.

Beezer didn't know what to think of Hannah for the longest time. he wasn't dangerous at all but he was stand offish. he would just rather avoid her altogether but if we were in a room he would always guard the door and one time during a hockey game we were on the couch and hubby was standing and our team scored and Brian came at me to give a high five and beezer FREAKED OUT lol.

Belle was instantly the nanny dog and was always around. As Hannah got more mobile and more vocal Belle became the "disciplinarian nanny". She hollers at hannah if she doesn't approve of her shenanigans and if Hannah comes out of her room in the morning and no one is up (which is rare) Belle will give a bark to make sure I wake up lol.

Now that Hannah is older and more "interactive" and gives treats Beezer is a much bigger fan LOL

AH! All the baby pictures!!! SQUEEEEEEE!

Now that, that is out of the way lol

Oh and the baby bump picture was ADORABLE! <3

All this baby talk is killing me lol

Oh yeah.. A few pics lol. They were 1 or 2 days old

Because everyone is talking about dogs and kids... Bandit has been co sleeping with Briggs and I nearly since birth. Woops! Not at night for the first several months but he'd sleep in bed with us at nap time. I'd actually be more concerned about a dog once the baby starts trying to pull themselves up. Infants are easy. Dont leave them unsupervised with the dog. Dont leave them on the floor. Babywaer so you can train/walk doggy AND make sure your dog doesnt lunge on the leash well before you have an infant or find a different way to exercise them. Thats really the only concern I had about Bandit so I got his leash reactivity reasonably under control before Briggs. I didnt even bat an eye lash bringing Blake home. He saw him in the bucket seat and I let him sniff him right away. He let out a very quiet howl, did a little dance and that was that.

But, Bandit is a very nanny-like dog. He LOVES babies. Briggs doesnt harasshim at all though. They both have very little interest in getting in each other's space. They do nap together daily still. Melts my heart



oh and MAKE SURE if you are going to use a stroller your dog respects it. Doesnt pull or spook at it.

I can't wait for this trimester to be over. I've had spotting on and off since 5 weeks and even though I had a normal ultrasound at 8 weeks, it's so **** stressful and worrying. Ugh.

Sorry to hear that I hope it gets better soon! The second trimester definitely goes a lot faster in my experience!

Thanks Jenv. A lot of other women in my birth month group appear to have or have had the same thing happen and everything carried on fine but all the positive experiences and good- sounding statistics do nothing to help when it's actually happening.

I have another midwife appointment in a week from tomorrow. Hopefully she can put me at ease...

I'll be 36 weeks tomorrow..It's getting so close I can't wait anymore..lol The baby is already head down.

The only thing i'm worried about with the dogs is the toys..lol Mikito thinks anything that is soft and makes noise is his!

DH and I are looking at the end of 2014 for starting on the baby journey here. I've been obsessively researching since my bff had her second child 2 years ago. LOL I've learned that I am a very crunchy sort.

iluvdogs, I've heard that you can teach dogs that items with a specific scent (think a dab of vanilla or lavender) are theirs, but those without aren't. Maybe that would help?

I am a crunchy mama and I am cool with it. I'm not pushy in my beliefs. I just do what feels right for myself and that happens to be very hippy lady apparently.

We tried that with puppy Strider and it worked really well. He's always been really good about not messing with her stuff. I think we used Vick's vaporub or toothpaste. It was something minty.

That is what we do. We use almond extract. I actually wrote an article several years back that was published on how to train a dog to leave your childrens toys alone and to be able to tell the difference between the two.